Learn what productivity is and how it impacts on the results

If you need more hours in your day and you can't organize the tasks to fulfill all of them within the deadline set, you need to understand what productivity is and learn to manage your time.

If you need more hours in your day and you can’t organize the tasks to fulfill all of them within the deadline set, you need to understand what productivity is and learn to manage your time.

You need to follow the new trends, because unproductive people and processes are not accepted in the market which is increasingly competitive and dynamic. Applying productivity strategies in your routine makes you achieve relevant results like the improvement of your life quality.

Do you want to know how productivity can improve your results and provide you a peaceful day? Continue reading to learn what productivity is and what the attitudes that you need to have a productive day are.

What is productivity?

Productivity is a quality which, according to the dictionary, means the efficiency when producing something, it might be either a product itself or any service, taking into account the quantity produced in relation to the time spent.

Productivity is related to efficiency and time, and the less time you take to achieve the expected result, the more productive your company’s system is.

With the productive system of management elaborated, you should make constant assessments to see if it is still working well, with impressive gains. The system is being productive if it increases your profitability, otherwise, make adjustments so that your company won’t waste time and resources.

New technologies and new methods of work place organization come from the idea that productivity is a preponderant factor to achieve results and be accepted as a quality product on the market.

In general, the understanding of productivity comes from the financial income that is a result of the processes, being assessed according to the factors of time and efficiency.

Productivity and the working hours

The daily working hours are not an indicator of productivity. Working 8 hours a day shows you the time that you have to work and not effectively that the decisions were taken and the problems were solved within that time.

Controlling the level of productivity today is more related to the result you deliver according to the time spent for it, and not if you’re following a fixed schedule.

Have you noticed that the new companies already let employees have flexible hours? Do you want to have the dream job without bothering to clock in on time? Be a super productive entrepreneur.

Many people don’t like waking up early but getting up around 5:00 in the morning can make your day more productive, since at the beginning of the day you’ll find time to do some physical activity and solve minor problems that could stress you out during the day.

Do you know those things you never have time to do and always procrastinate? Wake up early and solve all of this. The idea is to add hours to your day and that during these hours you will not be interrupted, so you can do it all in less time. Now that’s productivity.

6 tips to be productive

If you are an entrepreneur, you must already have noticed that there is a lack of professionals who stand out in the market to take good positions. And, as an employee, you may have noticed that companies are increasingly demanding.

These demands are much more than a resume. What companies want and need are qualified professionals with specific features, including the ability relate to others and be productive.

Delivering results with quality and in a shorter time is the great challenge for both entrepreneurs and employees who aspire better jobs (and wages).

The lack of this skill set is one of the biggest reasons for the layoffs in the market. The dictionary itself tells you what productivity is and how you should understand this concept to apply it in your professional and personal life.

Efficient planning alongside the daily effort walking together will lead your business to success. When you become productive you will realize that it doesn’t matter necessarily the number of hours you spend at work, but what you actually do with that time.

If you come home late at night worn out, physically and mentally tired, make an assessment of all the tasks you performed during the day and see that even spending many hours at work, your day wasn’t as productive as it should be, you’re working the wrong way.

Even if you own a business, there is no way to get success if your processes are slow. You need to follow the market. Falling behind is surrendering to failure.

The key point is on your focus and determination. There will be days when you will work a lot and have many results and, there will be days when you will produce very little and the difference is not a good or bad day. The difference is in the mentality with which you face your work and how willing you are to keep focused.

Now that you understand what productivity is, see 6 practical tips we’ve selected for you to stand out as an above-average productive professional.

1. Planning and focus

Many professionals (and especially those who hold management positions) start the day answering emails, delegating tasks to their team, answering phones and ending what was pending on the previous day. They look at the number of things to do and do them at the same time, spending much more time than if they have dedicated a specific time frame for each of them.

By doing many things at the same time you don’t focus enough to solve things in the best possible way. Either you engage in a task and the other will be pending, or you delegate the demands to be performed.

If you don’t have a team that can help you with your demands, plan your day and direct what you do according to the priority and the designed schedule. The world won’t end if you don’t do everything at the same time. Determine time and do everything according to what is within your power.

Take only your responsibilities and let people work. It’s not because you have the ability and knowledge to do everything that you need to concentrate on everything. Learn how to delegate and follow your plan so in the end of the day you will have fulfilled all the activities proposed.

2. Meetings only if they are productive

Think about how many meetings are scheduled per week on your calendar. A lot, right?! Now check how many of them are really productive and you come out with projects or solutions to decision making for the business. It is very likely that the number has fallen more than half.

Weekly, it is common for company managers to get together and talk about goals and present the development of each department. Other meetings are involving partners or potential partners who want to showcase their products. For these meetings, schedule the time and don’t overextend it.

You cannot stop attending your meetings, but you can make them more productive by running short meetings that bring results for you. Find out how important your presence is in a particular meeting. Evaluate whether you are needed during the meeting and, if necessary, notify the managers of your decision not to attend depending on your schedule.

3. Have a list of tasks for every day

Having a task list is for those who understand what productivity is and make each day count according to the demands that can be solved in a shorter time. This is productivity: quality and speed together.

Many things happen during the day and surely that will influence in your planning. It is therefore important that you carry this list 24 hours a day. Stay organized and updated about all you have to do, including the e-mails.

The best way to make lists is using applications to organize your life. Having a calendar or using a notepad can help, but it doesn’t solve the problem. Have you ever considered the possibility of losing it? However, with the apps everything is saved in the cloud and you can access it at any time and from any other device.

4. Avoid distractions

You probably spend at least 6 hours a day in your work place and during this time you can’t stay away from social networks for more than an hour. Whatsapp is more common, as many people use it as a more efficient way to communicate. However, you must be very careful so this effective communication tool doesn’t become a problem.

If you talk to your friends about what they will do later, or get distracted with Whatsapp groups, you will spend a lot of time interacting with people through your smartphone and when you realize at least 20 minutes are gone. And that quick look to see what’s happening on Facebook? This “quick look” easily becomes an hour.

These small distractions catch your attention while performing the tasks and make you lose focus. If your job is exhaustive, get up, get some water, talk quickly with someone on your team. Brief moments of relaxing at work are important as long as they don’t compromise your planning and don’t miss tasks due to the lack of time.

Another common distraction is a break to have some coffee. Generally, people tend to go out together to talk about work during the break for lunch or a snack. And what if you are in the middle of a task and your friends are going to their break?

If you leave with your friends and let the task to be done later, you are not productive. In this situation you have two options: either ask them to wait for you, because you haven’t completed a task, or notify them of your demands and meet them later in the cafeteria. You need to get rid of the task you are doing and people won’t judge you because of this.

If you work from home, the ideal is to have well-defined working hours, including lunch and scheduled breaks. If you leave the TV on and answer your phone every time it rings, for example, you will not be able to meet the deadlines or you will spend more time working than you really need.

Analyze everything that can distract you during your working hours and try to get rid of everything so your time is productive and you don’t spend more time than the necessary to solve the demands. These distractions can make you procrastinate because you surrender to them.

5. Perform the tasks

If you are following all 4 tips above and still find problems to perform the tasks, you haven’t understood what is productivity or your tasks are too long, which makes them impossible to perform.

When you do your planning, as you’ve seen on the first tip, you need to make sure that you will be able to solve everything during the day. Understand what actually needs to be done to solve every demand, so then you can determine how much time you will spend in each of the activities.

You have to be faithful to the deadlines that you establish yourself, otherwise you won’t be able to handle the job and will have to stop several times a day to reshape your daily planning. When the tasks are too big and you end up losing control and taking more than one task at a time.

The idea is that you follow the planning, and that the tasks are achievable, that is, that you can solve everything by yourself. Don’t put in the planning something that you already know you won’t be able to solve that day.

6. Plan tomorrow today

As you’ve read in this article, the things that happen during the day affect your tasks from then on. So, at the end of the day you need to plan the next day. If you fail to plan the next day when you arrive at work, the chances you’ll start working without planning are very high. Then, at the end of the day see all you could solve and what is still pending. Determine priorities for the next day and when you arrive at work everything will already be pre-set.

Could you notice how the tips we gave you here are pretty simple and easy? The focus is that you don’t have trouble to put them into practice and that at the end of this article you can change your method of work by understanding what productivity is.

Now it’s up to you! Put these tips into practice and have a productive team that will yield more results than expected. It is important to remember that these tips won’t grant you automatic success.

Companies are made up of people and each of them have their methods and ways of working. The tips are here to guide the work directing to the productivity path. If you still have any questions, please contact our team of experts.